Property does not exist on type String in TypeScript

Property does not exist on type String in TypeScript #

The "Property does not exist on type String" error occurs when we try to access a property that does not exist on the string type. To solve the error, use an object instead of a string, or make sure you're accessing a valid built-in method on the string.

Here is an example of how the error occurs.

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const name = 'James';

// ⛔️ Error: Property 'id' does not
// exist on type '"James"'.ts(2339)
console.log(name.id);

We tried to access an id property on a string and got the error because the id property does not exist on strings.

If you didn't intend to access the property on a value of type string, use console.log to log the value on which you are accessing the property.

To solve the error, use an object instead of a string and type the object's properties.

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interface Person {
  name: string;
  id: number;
}

const p1: Person = {
  name: 'Tom',
  id: 1,
};

console.log(p1.name); // 👉️ "Tom"
console.log(p1.id); // 👉️ 1

We created an interface that contains the name and id properties. The p1 variable has a type of Person, so we can safely access the name and id properties on the object.

If you need to initialize the object as empty, or with some key-value pairs missing initially, set the specific properties to optional by using a question mark.

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interface Person {
  name?: string;
  id?: number;
}

const p1: Person = {};

p1.name = 'Tom';
p1.id = 1;

console.log(p1.name); // 👉️ "Tom"
console.log(p1.id); // 👉️ 1

We set the name and id object properties to optional, so we are able to initialize the object as empty.

You can set the necessary properties at a later point in time.

In some cases, you won't know the names of all of the object's keys or the shape of the values ahead of time.

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type Person = {
  [key: string]: any;
  name: string;
};

const p1: Person = {
  name: 'Tom',
};

p1.id = 1;
p1.salary = 100;

console.log(p1.name); // 👉️ "Tom"
console.log(p1.test); // 👉️ undefined

The {[key: string]: any} syntax is called an index signature and is used when you don't know the names of the object's keys or the shape of the values ahead of time.

The syntax means that when the object is indexed with a string key, it will return a value of any type.

We set the name property to string in the Person type, so the type checker would throw an error if the property is not provided or is set to a value of a different type.

If you don't know the names of all of the object's keys, but know the shape of the values, you can use a more specific index signature for better type safety.

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type Person = {
  [key: string]: string | number;
  name: string;
  id: number;
};

const p1: Person = {
  name: 'Tom',
  id: 1,
};

p1.job = 'accountant';
p1.salary = 100;

The index signature in the example means that when the object is indexed with a string key, it will return a value that has a string or number type.

The string | number syntax is called a union type in TypeScript.

In other words, you can't specify that when the object is indexed with a string key, it returns a value of type string, and then add another string key to the interface that has a value of type number.

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type Person = {
  [key: string]: string;
  name: string;
  // ⛔️ Error: Property 'id' of type 'number' is
  // not assignable to 'string' index type 'string'.ts(2411)
  id: number;
};

The example shows that the type checker throws an error if we specify that when indexed with a string key, the object returns a value of type string, and then try to add another string key that has a value of type number.

Conclusion #

To solve the "Property does not exist on type string" error, we have to make sure to only access built-in properties and methods on the string or use an object instead of a string.